


Welcome to my Universe

by brokenbluedoors



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Parallel Universes, Roleswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23064895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenbluedoors/pseuds/brokenbluedoors
Summary: “First you pretend to be O, now the Doctor, having an identity crisis are you?”“I’m confused.” He admitted.“Oh it’s a bit more than that mate, you’re psychotic, sick in the head, deluded-““Alright, alright. That’s not very nice,” he frowned with big sad eyes but you knew better than to be manipulated by them.“You’re not very nice.” You challenged him.“Says the one who trespassed into my TARDIS and punched me in the face without any explanation.” He challenged back.“Okay you want an explanation? How about you tried to kill me, the Doctor, my friends, the entire human race!” Your voice grew in volume as you added to the list as you counted on each finger.TL;DR: The Master sends the reader to a parallel universe, chaos ensues.
Relationships: The Master (Dhawan)/Reader, Thirteenth Doctor/Reader, Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 141





	1. Chapter One

“You know, this tissue compression eliminator is a lot more multipurpose than its name would suggest,” the Master smiled, you could feel it from where his cheek touched yours, he had you tightly held against his chest with one arm around you, while the other pointed his TCE to your head.

You held eye contact with the Doctor, who you could tell was trying her best to paint a calm expression on her face in an attempt to reassure you that even though a psychopathic and genocidal alien literally had your life in his hands, she had the situation under control and you were going to be okay. She also didn’t want to give the Master the satisfaction of seeing he was currently at an advantage.

You knew better of course and the Master probably did too, the Doctor was not in control, you were not going to be okay and the Master definitely had the advantage.

“Would you like me to demonstrate one of its many clever features, with the help of my lovely assistant (y/n)?” He enthused, you squirmed in response, wishing you could slip free and run to the Doctor but even then he still had his TCE and he could’ve easily shot you before you even reached her.

“Let her go and you can have me.” The Doctor offered, sounding confident despite the circumstances.

“I’ve got you anyway.” All the playfulness had left his voice, what he said was nothing short of a promise.

You felt tears begin to build behind your eyes as the gravity of the situation began to sink in, there was no way there was going to be a positive outcome and you weren’t ready to say goodbye to the Doctor, your Doctor.

Receiving no further attempts to negotiate, the Master smugly took it as a sign to continue.

“Any last words?” This time he was whispering, only for you to hear, his lips brushed the shell of your ear with every word he spoke, it made you shiver and squirm as your heart rate accelerated even more than you thought possible, the tears that were at the back of your eyes now flowed quickly down your cheeks and you choked on your breath. The panic felt like a tight grip on your throat which made it difficult for you to barely stutter out the only words you could think to say.

“Doctor, I’m-“

•

You felt yourself falling backwards as if someone had given you a hard shove in the chest and your arms flailed attempting to grab at anything before your back harshly collided with the floor, but instead you fell into someone’s arms as if you were doing one of those trust exercises.

You looked around at your surroundings, you noticed you were in the Doctors TARDIS, that means you were safe, she saved you. You looked up at the person holding you in their arms with a smile, expecting to be met with the Doctors face, only to see your worst nightmare instead. You scrambled from their hold while trying to maintain your balance, it was tricky but you managed and as soon as you were out of their grasp you gave them no time to react before you were using all the strength you could muster to punch them in their face.

While they fell back into the console, accidentally pushing one of the levers as they did, you ran for the doors with the hope of making a quick getaway but as you swung the door open you swung out, you let out a shocked gasp but luckily you had a tight grip on the handle otherwise you would’ve propelled yourself into outer space.

Trying to quickly come up with a plan B while you hung halfway out the TARDIS, you weren’t expecting a hand to grab yours and pull you back into the ship and spin you around so they put themselves between you and the doors which they pushed shut, it all happened so fast, you felt dizzy.

“You really need to work on this falling thing, that’s twice I’ve caught you in less than 2 minutes.” He chuckled softly, still holding his chin, you could see you had managed to bust his lip open. “Now, if you could help me figure out how you got into my ship I won’t hold a grudge for this.” He pointed to his injury.

“How about you tell me how you got into the Doctors TARDIS!” You accused, backing away with the idea of putting the console between yourself and him.

“Because… I am the Doctor… and this is my TARDIS?” he tilted his head to the side, like a confused puppy - if you could even compare this man to a puppy, “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

You let out a humourless laugh from the other side of the console, you couldn’t believe those words were coming out of his mouth.  
“First you pretend to be O, now the Doctor, having an identity crisis are you?”

“I’m confused.” He admitted.

“Oh it’s a bit more than that mate, you’re psychotic, sick in the head, deluded-“

“Alright, alright. That’s not very nice,” he frowned with big sad eyes but you knew better than to be manipulated by them.

“You’re not very nice.” You challenged him.

“Says the one who trespassed into my TARDIS and punched me in the face without any explanation.” He challenged back.

“Okay you want an explanation? How about you tried to kill me, the Doctor, my friends, the entire human race!” Your voice grew in volume as you added to the list as you counted on each finger.

“Look I don’t know who think I am but you’ve definitely got the wrong person.” He suddenly sounded more serious as he made his way around the console and began pushing some buttons, you moved as he did so you remained on the opposite side of the console at all times.

“I definitely haven’t got the wrong person, I know the Master when I see him and he is standing right in front of me.”

You watched him as he looked up at you as if all the blood had drained from his face, he had both his arms resting on the console and he didn’t move a muscle after hearing what you said, he had completely frozen, if you didn’t know any better you would’ve said he looked genuinely shocked. A moment of silence fell between the two of you, the only noise that could be heard was the faint hum of the TARDIS.

“Like I said, you’ve got the wrong person.” He finally spoke, it was quiet and he returned focused to the console, his whole demeanour had changed since you called him the Master, it was beginning to make you doubt yourself but it didn’t make sense.

“Ten minutes ago you were threatening me with your tissue compression thing, next thing I know I’m in the TARDIS with you and the Doctor is nowhere to be seen.” You offered him further context, hoping he might be able to make some sense of it.

“What does your Doctor look like?” He asked you, the question seemed random, he knew what she looked like but you decided to humour him anyway.  
“She’s kind of short, blonde hair, has a northern accent and she wears rainbows and cropped trousers.”

He paused after hearing your description of her and remained silent for a while practically burning a hole into the console with his stare, you couldn’t really make out his expression you could mainly just see the top of his head from where you stood on the other side.

“That’s the Master… the Master I know at least,” he finally raised his head and looked you right in the eye, “minus the rainbows.” He added with a small shrug.  
“No… you’re the Master,” you insisted even though you were becoming less sure of that.

“I look like the Master where you’re from but here I am the Doctor.” He explained as if he had it all figured out but you didn’t understand what he meant.  
“What do you mean, here?” You asked for him to elaborate.

“Here, in this universe. If the last thing you remember, before you arrived here, is your Master threatening you with his tissue compression eliminator then he must’ve found a way to use it to send you into a parallel universe.”

“Don’t call him that, he’s not my Master.” Out of everything he said you needed to clarify that first.

“Sorry,” he scrunched his eyes shut, “I didn’t mean, I just meant the Master from your universe.” he corrected himself.

“If you’re right about all this and he actually did send me to a parallel universe then you can get me back, right?” You sounded hopeful but once again he couldn’t look at you and it made your stomach drop.

“I’m sorry,” he shook his head, “I don’t even understand how he managed to send you here without causing a whole load of irreparable damage.”

“I’ll never see my doctor again? My family?” A heavy feeling began to grow in your chest, “my friends?” Your voice had become weak as you struggled to keep hold of your emotions, “I’m stuck here… forever?” you took a deep breath and swallowed back the lump which began to form in your throat.

He watched you for a moment seemingly trying to read your emotional state, he furrowed his brows with uncertainty about how to react in response, he knew it was the part where should step in and say something comforting but what do you tell someone who just found out they’re trapped in a parallel universe and they’ll never see their loved ones again?

“What’s your name?” Is what he settled on eventually after realising they had skipped the formalities earlier.

“(y/n)” you sniffed and looked up at him to find he was making his way towards you.

“It’s nice you meet you, (y/n). I’m the Doctor.” Once he was close enough he offered you his hand, you hesitated.

“How do I know I can trust you?” You asked, though it no longer sounded accusing, you just genuinely wanted to know.

He pursed his lips and pondered over your question for a moment to try and come up with a good response.

“I think if I was the Master, I would’ve probably pushed you the rest of the way out of the TARDIS instead of pulling you back in.” You admit that was a good point but you still weren’t entirely convinced and he could tell, so he continued. “And I don’t think the old girl would be too pleased if the Master was piloting her.”

After he said that you heard the TARDIS let out a low hum and his expression immediately grew offended, “oi I am a perfectly capable pilot,” there was another sound, “even if you think she’d be a better pilot you still like me best, right?” the TARDIS hummed once more and he smiled triumphantly and you watched him curiously.

“Welcome to my universe.” He smiled wide and offered you his hand once more, you still weren’t entirely sure you trusted him but right now he was all you had. Reluctantly you shook his hand and returned a polite smile. This was certainly going to be an adventure.


	2. Chapter Two

“Oh dear,” the Master pouted with fake regret, “was she not finished? I’m a little bit too trigger happy, I just can’t help myself. Never mind, I’m sure whatever she wanted to say wasn’t that important.” He dismissed with a wave of his hand, clearly amused at himself.

“What did you do to her?” The Doctor asked, her voice airily calm, she wasn’t even looking at the Master, her eyes were still trained on the spot where (y/n) once stood. The lack of attention irritated him.

“I’m sorry… were you fond of her?” the Master gasped as if he had made an innocent mistake, it got the Doctor to finally look at him, wanting him to see the look of boredom on her face, she refused to show him anything else. He didn’t deserve the satisfaction of seeing the affect his actions had on her emotions, she would hide them away for now. 

“I think she was fond of you,” the Master taunted further, trying to trigger a reaction, he spoke as if he were gossiping with a friend. “Did you notice?”  
The Doctor remained silent, she used all her self-restraint to not break and give him the kind of reaction he wanted.

“Of course you didn’t,” his voice turned bitter, “you never do.”

“What did you do to her?” The Doctor repeated, she spoke through clenched teeth, her tone more low and threatening this time.

“Teleported her to a parallel universe, a little trick I learnt during my time with the Kasaavin.” He spoke nonchalantly as he began to move around, showing little attention to the Doctor. He wanted her to want his attention, like he wanted hers. 

“The funny thing is, in this parallel universe, you look like me. Her dear old Doctor with my face,” he couldn’t control his childish grin, “humans get so fixated on appearances, am I right? I mean you’d know, you’re the one with the weird obsession… it’s just, I wonder if she could bring herself to still love you, if you look like the person who once tried to kill her?” He pondered with a giggle, his eyes wide with wonder and excitement.

The Doctor looked at him, her jaw was slack and her eyes wide in disbelief.

“Oh don’t worry, Doctor,” he put on a reassuring tone and moved back towards her and rested one of his hands on her shoulder, “she’ll still have you, only you will be me - consider it an improvement. She can have fun deciding which one she wants, you with my face or me with yours.” He spoke like it was a game because it really was to him.

•

A week had passed since the Master had banished you to the parallel universe, you were currently alone in the console room of the TARDIS thinking about your Doctor while you waited for the other Doctor to get ready.

You missed her so much and while spending time with this Doctor you have seen glimpses of her shine through in his mannerisms, like when he would pilot the TARDIS one of his legs would lift backwards while he leaned over the console to reach the controls or he would scrunch his nose and you would look at him fondly to which he responded with a questioning look, as if he was wondering if he had something on his face and you would just shake your head and he’d dismiss it, still oblivious as ever, even in a whole other universe.

But all of these things only made you long for her even more and it was beginning to get really difficult since it was finally settling in that you were never going to see her again, which is what brought you to thinking about the Master, the Master of this universe.

You remember when you first arrived, the Doctor told you the Master here looked just like your Doctor and you know you shouldn’t, because deep down you knew she wouldn’t be the person you wanted her to be, she was just the Master with your Doctor’s face but you couldn’t deny that a part of you was curious about her. 

You would never be able to find her without the Doctors help though and you know he would never approve, let alone even think about letting you see her, you sighed sadly and leaned on the console.

“You will never guess who I found in the depths of the TARDIS!” The Doctor entered the control room, you could hear how excited he was before you even turned around to see who, or more accurately what, he was referring to. Stood before you with the biggest smile on his face, the Doctor was wearing a fez and pointing at it with both hands. “My fez! I thought I lost her.” 

“That’s great!” You offered him a smile in an attempt to act normal but it turned out acting normal was more difficult than you would’ve originally thought.

The Doctor’s smile dropped, instantly sensing that there was something wrong with you, that was the funny thing about the Doctor, sometimes they could be so oblivious to your most blatant feelings and other times they could tell something was wrong with you before you even realised it yourself.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He came rushing over to you, his brows were tilted and his big brown eyes were filled with worry before his demeanour grew insecure, “is it the fez, do I not suit it in this body?”

“No, no it’s not the fez,” you quickly rushed to reassure him, taking a proper look at his appearance, “it suits you rather well actually.” You noted which earned you a blush from him, he could be quite adorable at times.

“Then what is it?” He eventually encouraged you to open up to him, after composing himself.

You looked down at your fidgeting fingers while you nervously chewed your bottom lip, suddenly feeling very vulnerable about opening up to him. It was still weird for you, he’s the Doctor, you know that, but sometimes you looked at him and you still saw the Master and he was be the last person you would willingly bare your soul to.

You felt his fingers rest themselves underneath your chin and he gently guided your face upwards to look at him, you were met with a very sincere expression.

“I understand it’s hard for you, considering my appearance and all but I’m here for you, I might not be the best with advice but I can at least listen.” He gave you a warm smile.  
“I’m just struggling,” you admitted with a sigh, “it has been a week now and I’m really starting to miss her, my Doctor I mean.” 

“I should’ve realised,” the Doctor scolded himself, “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s not your fault.” You assured him even though you couldn’t tell whether he was apologising for not realising or for your situation in general.

“I do look like him though, I thought since you can’t get an apology from him I can give it to you instead.” Your heart melted at the sweet gesture. “You could pretend I’m him if you want someone to yell at because you’re angry about what he did to you.” He then offered and you genuinely couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.

“I appreciate the offer,” you laughed “but you don’t deserve that.” 

“You didn’t deserve to be banished to a parallel universe and separated from your loved ones.” He argued.

Since the conversation was beginning to get heavy and you weren’t really ready to discuss it you put on your best smile, even though the sadness still shined through, and moved around the console as if you even had the slightest idea what any of the controls did. “So where are we off to today?” 

•

“Bring her back.” The Doctor demanded, shrugging the Masters hand from her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” The Master played, he turned his head slightly to bring his ear closer as if he were straining to hear.

“I said, bring her back.” The Doctor repeated, her eyes trained on his as she glared at his face which only grew more smug with her demand.

“Want to try that again?” He offered her, the corner of his lip lifting into a smirk.

The Doctor shook her head and closed her eyes, she knew she was giving him exactly what he wanted but she had to, if she wanted to try and save (y/n).

“Bring her back… please.” She repeated for a final time with a defeated sigh.

“See, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?” The Master patronised her, “but I must’ve forgot to tell you, it’s only a one way trip I’m afraid.”

The Doctor couldn’t hold herself back anymore, she was so tired of his games and he knew the right buttons to push to get a reaction and he got one. She lunged forward and grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and pushed him backwards until his back collided with the nearest wall and brought her face inches from his.

“You’re lying!” She accused him, her anger increased when he only responded with throwing his head back in laughter.

“You’ve been there and returned, how else would you know about what you and I look like there?” She wasn’t a fool, she saw his mistake.

“Oh Doctor,” he sighed, “don’t be naive, I thought you of all people would have figured out it’s not that simple.” 

“How did you do it?”

“While with the Kasaavin, I learned that they could travel freely between parallel universes and wondered if I could develop a way to grant myself the same ability. I did it but it’s limited, once it has been used to jump to one universe then it is impossible to jump to it again using the same device and I only have one,” the Master raised his TCE and waved it slightly between them.

“That doesn’t explain how you managed to travel there and still had the ability to send (y/n) there.” She pressed him for a further explanation.

“Come on Doctor, you could figure it out by yourself,” he mocked her with a disappointed tone, “after you gave me up to the Kasaavin, which you still haven’t apologised for by the way, I found myself trapped in the void until they spat me out in another universe where I found myself, I thought she was you at first - it’s a funny story, I’ll have to tell you it sometime. I put the ability to teleport between universes into her TCE and used it to send myself back here, that way I still have the ability return here using my TCE, you know just in case of emergencies.” He finished by saying the last part like it was a secret just between the two of them. 

The Doctor looked down, she let go of his coat and took a step back while the Master straightened out his clothes and followed her with a step of his own.

“Don’t you think it’s time you stopped travelling with humans?” He suggested suddenly and the Doctor snapped her head up at him with wide eyes, he continued before she could respond. “They’re so weak and fragile, I think you forget that about them, they aren’t like you and I.” 

The Doctor shook her head and opened her mouth to try and defend herself but nothing came out and he went on, still taking steps towards her as she took steps back.

“You can be so careless, dragging them along with you on adventures you can’t promise them that they will come back from. It’s selfish, Doctor-“

“Stop it.” She warned him.

“How many lives have been sacrificed all just because you crave a little bit of company?” He asked just as he had managed to back her into the opposite wall.

“It’s not just that.” The Doctor attempted to defend herself.

“It’s not? Tell me what else it is then, Doctor.” He questioned as he placed both his hands on the wall beside her head and caged her in.

The Doctor still refused to look at him, her eyes were cast down so all she could see was his chest and she racked her brains to think of a way to justify herself, to deny his claims against her but she just couldn’t.

“Deep down you know I’m right, you can’t deny it.” The Master concluded. 

After giving herself a moment to collect her thoughts she snapped her eyes up to look at him.

“Why do you even care? You hate humans, you just sent (y/n) to a parallel universe without a second thought.” She reminded him.

“I don’t care,” the Master answered honestly, “I don’t care about the humans, you could be as careless as you want with as many as you want, I couldn’t care less.”

“Then what is it?” The Doctor was struggling to understand his reasoning behind all this, she knows he always has one.

“You care,” was his short and simple response, before he continued to elaborate, “for whatever reason, you care about them yet you’re still so reckless, I wouldn’t care if you only hurt them but you hurt yourself in the process, can’t you see the affect it has had on you, the toll it has taken?” His voice had grown more soft.

The Doctor reflected on her time recently, the faces of her recent companions flashing before her eyes, how easily she could remember how each one came and left, how quickly it seemed she passed through them, always using the next to fill in the void that was left with the departure of the last, from Rose, to Martha, to Donna, to Amy and Rory, to Clara, to Bill, to (y/n). She looked at the Master, his eyes were gentle as he watched the Doctor finally realise the state she was in and this time she couldn’t hide her emotions away anymore.

Without hesitating the Master brought his arms around the Doctors shoulders and pulled her into him, the Doctor immediately became ridged, she couldn’t remember if she liked hugs, it had been so long but quickly she realised that it felt right, this is want she needed, without thinking too much about it she relaxed into the Masters hold and let her emotions free. Maybe this would be okay for a while she thought, just for a little while.


	3. Chapter Three

The Doctor opened her eyes and quickly shrugged the Master’s arms from around her and pushed him away but not before grabbing his TCE from out his pocket and pointing it at him.

“Doctor, what are you doing?” The Master tried to laugh at her unexpected behaviour but he poorly hid his genuine shock.

“All this,” she manically waved the TCE around and the Master dodged her movements as she did, in case she accidentally set it off, “all this was just part of your plan to get me to go away with you.” 

The Master couldn’t deny it, not without humiliating himself, she caught him off guard and he was not prepared, he just looked down avoiding her stare and it was all the confirmation she needed.

With that she roughly grabbed him by his bicep, still pointing the TCE at him and started dragging him along with her as she began to walk. 

In these incarnations the Master could’ve easily overpowered the Doctor to shake off her hold and take back his TCE but the pure shock he was under from her uncharacteristic behaviour rendered him powerless.

“Where are we going?” The Master asked as he stumbled along with the Doctor.

“I’m kidnapping you and taking you to my TARDIS.” The Doctor spoke, there was no trace of any playfulness in her tone, despite how ridiculous that sentence sounded coming out of her mouth.

“Oh,” the Master raised his eyebrows, that didn’t sound so bad at all.

“And you’re going to help me find a way to jump to the parallel universe where you sent (y/n) and bring her back home.” She spoke with determination, even giving the Master a harsh shove just for good measure.

“Oh.” This time his eyebrows fell, there’s always a catch he thought to himself.

•

At first glance one might assume that the situation you currently found yourself in wasn’t a terrible one at all. 

You were sat on a thrown while being waited on hand and foot and worshipped by an alien race who believed you to be a Goddess.

Of course it was all one big misunderstanding but once you saw all the paintings of the actual Goddess, which adorned the walls and ceilings of the palace, you had to admit there was a resemblance. The unfortunate thing was that in many of these paintings the Goddess was seen impaling a man, who bore an uncanny resemblance to the Doctor, through his chest with a sword.

It all began when you and he were spotted together admiring the beautiful sights the planet had to offer when a swarm of guards in silver armour surrounded the both of you and dragged you away from each other. 

No matter how much you pleaded with them, even ordered them to let the Doctor go, they were convinced you were either suffering from some form of amnesia or under a powerful spell from ‘the Sorcerer’ as they called him. 

They may have been treating you like a Goddess but they also locked you away in your quarters, for which they believed to be for your ‘own safety’, while the Doctor was held prisoner beneath the palace. 

The only reassurance you had that the Doctor was still alive was the fact that they kept promising you that once you recovered you could finally slaughter him as they all watched, you learned it was some sort of prophecy but the thought filled you with too much terror to enquire about it any further.

You couldn’t kill the Doctor, even though you were sure he would regenerate, you would still be killing this version of him and you would never dream of harming him. It had been almost six months since the Master sent you to this parallel universe, including the week which had been spent locked up on this planet, and during those six months you had found yourself falling for this Doctor. Your longing to return home had all but faded as you saw travelling with him in his TARDIS your new home now and you didn’t want to destroy that with your own hands, you refused.

That’s why you had spent the week you had been captured trying to come up with a plan to rescue the Doctor and escape, this involved maintaining the amnesia act, which appeared to work as you didn’t even need to do any of the convincing. 

The several times they caught you trying to escape you told them this wasn’t your home and you weren’t the Goddess and they brushed it off as confusion before sending you back to bed and doubling your guards. 

Night had fallen and you were lying in bed, you had barely got any sleep since you arrived here as your brain worked over time trying to think of new ways to get both yourself and the Doctor safely away from here, along with worries about all the possible outcomes if you failed. 

You knew as usual there would be two guards stood outside the room, you had already attempted to escape through the window once and since then they placed guards beneath it as your room was on one of the higher floors of the palace.

Just as your eyes began to feel heavy you heard a familiar wheezing and bleeping noise, you never jumped out from your bed so fast expecting to see an old blue police box materialising itself in the middle of the room but what you saw instead was a wardrobe, which fit in rather well with the design of the furniture which was already in the room.  
You tiptoed towards the now completely materialised wardrobe with uncertainty, you were reaching for the doors by the time they abruptly swung open for a woman to step out, almost falling on top of you if you had not jumped back from the fright.

“Doctor?” Was all you could get out before she cupped her hand over your mouth and pulled you back into the wardrobe with her.

“What did you just call me?” She asked you after locking the doors behind her, you looked around with your jaw agape, the wardrobe was a TARDIS. Your wonder was short lived and quickly replaced with dread once you realised who’s TARDIS you were in.

“The Master,” you whispered, more to yourself in realisation but she heard you.

You had your back to her which you realised was foolish of you and you quickly turned around to face her to find her advancing towards you. The Doctor was right, all those months ago, when he told you the Master here was your Doctor minus the rainbows.

“No, that wasn’t it.” She continued to stalk towards you, her hands where resting in the pockets of her black trousers and she walked casually.

“Doctor,” You answered, “I called you, Doctor.” 

Before you could even blink she had you trapped against the console with her hand around your throat, she didn’t add any pressure but the threat was still there.

“Are you the Goddess?” She interrogated you and you were frightened, you really were, but after spending a week denying the fact you were the Goddess with no prevail you were also tired, so you had no control over your automatic reaction which was to roll your eyes.

“I’m not Goddess!” Your tone was filled with irritation and you clenched the console where your hands were propped, keeping yourself stable.

“Watch your tone.” The Master warned, applying some pressure to the sides of your neck. “How do you know the Doctor?” She questioned you further.

“I travel with him.” You answered honestly.

“And he told you about me?” You couldn’t tell if it was arrogance or pure surprise in her tone, probably a mix of both.

“I knew about you already.” You shot down her hopes that the Doctor doesn’t try to keep her a secret.

“How?” She tilted her head, it would’ve been cute if it were your Doctor but as the Master it only helped to intimidate you further.

“You tried to kill me.” You sounded offended, you were.

“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific than that, love.” She smiled wickedly.

“In a parallel universe.” You offered.

“I’ve never been– oh...” You watched as the realisation hit her, “that is interesting.” Her eyes wandered in thought and a smirk began to form on her face before she looked back at you with a hard expression. “How did you end up here?”

“You sent me here.” You explained.

“Of course I did.” The Master smiled, looking proud of herself before she looked you over, taking in your appearance, the way your breathing and pulse had accelerated, “so what should I do with you now?” She wondered aloud.

“Me?” You grabbed a hold on the console and pushed yourself up to your full height and the Master’s hand slipped from your neck, “never mind me, what are we going to do about the Doctor?”

“We?” The Master scoffed at you, thinking how dare a mere human make such demands to her.

“Yes we since you’re the one with a TARDIS and the Doctor is being held prisoner in the dungeons of this place and I am not going to leave him behind!” You knew you were getting bold with someone that was far more dangerous than you could ever imagine but being locked up for two weeks can give you that kind of courage once you’re finally presented with an opportunity to escape.

The Master’s jaw was clenched and you saw the flare of her nostrils after you had finished but before she did anything to you she turned her back and began to pace.

“I should just throw you out of my TARDIS right now and leave you both here to rot,” she wasn’t speaking directly to you, more to herself as she continued to pace. “Why should I help the Doctor and his stupid little pet?” she spat the last part with much disdain. “He shouldn’t have been so reckless in the first place, maybe it’s about time he learned that sometimes no one will come to save him.”

“Please.” You tried and she stopped her pacing to finally look at you, you could practically see the cogs turning in her brain.

“How badly do you want to rescue your precious Doctor?” She turned to you, her hands back in her pockets.

“I’d do anything.” You answered honestly and regretfully as soon as you saw the smirk grow on the Master’s face.

“Show me.” She casually approached you, her smile growing when you backed away from her.

“What?” You hesitated to ask, uncertain of what exactly she expected you to do but you weren’t eager to find out.

“Get on your knees and beg me to help you save the Doctor,” she smiled wickedly, but her tone was threatening, “and I might consider it.”

You knew that was far from a promise, you could humiliate yourself by doing what she asked only for her to get a kick out of it before throwing you out of her ship and leaving you and the Doctor behind. If it were only your life at stake you would’ve stormed out of her TARDIS immediately after telling her you didn’t need her help, but this involved the Doctor too and for him you would try anything, if you thought it might help save him.

So you lowered yourself to the grid floor of her TARDIS which was painful against your knees but you didn’t let it show as you looked up at her and she cast her eyes down to you.  
“Please–“

“Ah ah,” she immediately cut you off, “what’s my name?”

“Master.”

She nodded for you to continue.

“Master, please help me save the Doctor.” You asked, keeping your tone flat.

“Get up.” You were confused about what she was going to do next but you didn’t need to be told twice, relieved to finally take the weight off your knees you quickly stood back up and as soon as you were on both feet her hand was around your wrist as she silently dragged you towards the doors and your heart fell realising you only had the time it took to reach the doors to change her mind, you dug your heels into the ground to slow her down.

“Master, please!” You pleaded, “please, I’m begging you,” your tone was no longer flat as it was filled with worry, “you can leave me but please just save the Doctor.” You tried to reason.

She had stopped now, just a few steps from the door and you were on the verge of tears as you watched her with bated breath.

“Now that’s what I call begging!” She pointed at you and released your wrist from your grip. 

“You’re going to save the Doctor?” You questioned hopefully as she made her way back towards the console.

“Don’t make me change my mind.” She warned you and with that she harshly pulled down a leaver.

•

Out of pure boredom the Doctor was attempting to make conversation with the guard that was on duty to watch all of the prisoners, he couldn’t see them since they were on the other side of the cell door and he was getting no response back but he still tried, it was better for him to pretend he was talking to someone than admit he was talking to himself.

He had tried to keep track of how many days he had been locked in this empty cell by carving a tally chart of the days into the stone wall but soon gave up after he got his mixed up with a previous prisoners tally, if he guessed he would assume it had been about a week and he had many failed attempts to escape. It would’ve been easier if they hadn’t chained him to the wall with a cuff on each wrist and he had his sonic screwdriver but the guards had confiscated everything, including his clothes, he was left to wear some awful rags and he didn’t even have any shoes. 

He worried for (y/n), although it eased him that they believed she was a Goddess as this meant it was less likely that she would come to any harm but he knew they couldn’t stay here and he needed to find a way to get himself and (y/n) safely off this planet for good.

When an abrupt loud droning sound and bright light entered the Doctor’s dim and quiet cell, he quickly scrambled as far away from it as his restraints would allow him, not taking his eyes away from the bright human shaped figures which had invaded his space. 

The last thing he expected was to see himself tumble out of the figure, hand in hand with the Master who landed on top of him, the two of them bickering with one another until they caught sight of him, with his back against the wall, looking at them alarmed and confused.

“Hello, I’m the Doctor.”

“You’re the Master.”

“I’m the Doctor, that’s the Master.”

“That’s me.”

“Where from a parallel universe.” The Master finally interrupted before their annoying exchange got out of hand, dealing with one Doctor was bad enough already.

“(y/n)’s universe?” The Doctor realised, “you’ve come to take her back?” He doubted himself for how this made him feel, was it selfish of him to feel upset that they had come to take her back to her world, her home, where she belonged? He couldn’t expect her to choose a life travelling with him over returning to her home, no matter how close they had grown over these past months, this wasn’t where she would choose to be. 

In conversations she would always still refer to the Doctor of her universe as ‘her Doctor’ and as time passed the more he wanted to be the one she referred to as ‘her Doctor’ but he realised that, especially now, that would never happen. 

Her Doctor had found a way to travel between universes to save her and he couldn’t even escape a stupid cell, there was no question over who she would choose.

“Yes, where is she?” The Doctor looked around as if expecting her to jump out from one of the corners.

“She’s obviously not here, they must’ve killed her already, I hate to say I told you so but I knew this would be a waste of my time.” The Master concluded.

“She’s not dead!” The other Doctor forward tugging on the chains, he sounded offended that the Master would even suggest that. “They believe her to be a Goddess and they’re keeping her in her quarters.” 

“Come on then, what are we waiting for?” The Doctor reached in her pockets for her sonic screwdriver and pointed it towards the other Doctor’s cuffs and they were soon falling to the floor as they snapped open, he rubbed his wrists to sooth the marks which the cuffs had left behind while the Doctor turned and made her way towards the door, the Master followed behind her reaching into his own pocket and the other Doctor followed behind him.

As soon as the Doctor had the door unlocked the Master was pushing in front of her and pulling his hand from his pocket holding a device which he pointed out the door, a couple zaps were heard before the Doctor pulled the Master back by his arm.

“Master!” She immediately scolded him.

The other Doctor stepped closer out the door to see just what the Master did to find the prison guards had vanished.

“Where did they go?” He asked, brushing past the Doctor and the Master to step into the corridor to look for them.

“I shrunk them.” The Master shrugged, but he struggled to hid the smile which threatened to show.

Sure enough when the other Doctor looked to the ground there lied two miniaturised dolls which were once the prison guards.

“Don’t shrink anyone else.” The Doctor pointed to the Master with a warning tone.

“I don’t know how far you expect us to get by politely asking them to let us and one of their prisoners enter the quarters of who they believe to be a Goddess.” The Master confronted the Doctor’s pacifism and before she could argue back the other Doctor stepped forward, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

“I mean, he does have a point.” He sided with the Master, who cockily raised his eyebrows at the Doctor in response.

“I’m disappointed in you.” Was all the Doctor said to the other version of herself before she turned and made her way down the corridor.  
The two look-a-like men followed behind her as one leaned over to the other.

“I like you.” The Master whispered.

•

You stepped out of the TARDIS, you looked back to see it had cleverly disguised itself as a cell door this time, before you looked around the corridor to find it completely empty with no guards in sight. 

The Master wasn’t far behind you, stepping out the TARDIS as you curiously made your way down the corridor, something wasn’t right.

You noticed one of the cell doors was wide open and ran towards it but just as you reached the entrance you felt something under your foot.

You were startled to find a miniature guard when you lifted your foot back and you crouched down to pick up the toy like figure.

“Did he leave without you?” The Master taunted as she came up behind you.

You wordlessly stood up and turned around to show her what was in the palm of your hand and the smirk immediately dropped from her face.  
“Was this you?” You accused the Master, who rolled her eyes.

“Do you think if I had just broke the Doctor out of prison I’d be wasting my time with you of all people?” You’d be offended if it were coming from anyone else except the Master and you weren’t so worried about the Doctors whereabouts.

“Do you think the Master from my universe...” You looked at the Master for her thoughts and she sighed.

“If the Doctor is with another version of me then they’ve probably left already, without you,” she didn’t even try to sound sympathetic. “I only agreed to help you save the Doctor and he isn’t here and you’re not the Goddess so I’ve no reason to be here.” With that she was turning and walking back towards her TARDIS.

You quickly ran after her and pulled her back around by her shoulder, she looked furious.

“You can’t just leave me here!” You raised your voice.

“Why not?” She moved towards you and brought her face close to yours to look you right in the eye, “the Doctor already has.” 

You didn’t watch her walk away as your eyes cast downward, your fists clenched at your sides still holding the miniature prison guard, you grit your teeth and let a growl rip through your throat as you threw it towards the Master’s TARDIS which was already fading away, causing a chill breeze to run through the corridor and then you were alone.


	4. Chapter Four

The two Doctor’s and the Master had found an empty room to hide in while they came up with a plan. 

The identical men sat at a table, the Doctor was leaning forward with his elbows and forearms resting on top of it, while the Master leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up.

The Doctor stood before them, pacing back and forth as she wiggled her fingers beside her temples and mumbled incoherently to herself as the two men waited for her to address them with the plan.

“I don’t see why I can’t just shrink everyone who gets in our way until we reach (y/n)’s quarters then get out of here.” The Master spoke up, not looking at the Doctor until she stopped her pacing to glare at him. “It’s quick, it’s easy and it will work.” He counted each point for his plan his fingers.

“And people will die.” The Doctor pointed out the massive flaw.

“Is that point meant to be for or against my plan?” The Master played dumb and the Doctor groaned in frustration, throwing her head back and the Master chuckled, enjoying the fact he was winding her up.

“Okay this is what’s going to happen, Doctor– no,” she paused, “I should come up with a nickname for you.”

“Why?” The other Doctor tilted his head.

“Because I’m the Doctor.” She laughed slightly with her ‘duh’ tone, trying to keep it light and not sound too harsh.

The other Doctor mimicked her laugh to try and not sound too offended.

“But I’m the Doctor too.”

Before the Doctor could talk back the Master decided to be the voice of reason.

“Rainbows,” he pointed to the one wearing all the rainbows, “raggedy man.” He pointed to the one in prison rags.

“Raggedy man?” Both the Doctors spoke at the same time, one sounding insulted while the other looked like she had seen a ghost.

“What’s wrong with raggedy man, he’s wearing rags.” The Master grew annoyed at their reluctance to adopt the nicknames.

“Someone used to call me that once…” The Doctor spoke with a hint of sadness in her voice before she side eyed the Master with suspicion, to which he just shrugged as if to say he had no idea.

“Moving on,” the Doctor broke the silence, not wanting to linger on the past too long, “you and I,” she referred to the other Doctor and herself, “will disguise ourselves as guards,” she used her thumbs to point to the two empty suits of armour which were displayed behind her, conveniently the suits came with helmets which would conceal their identities. 

“We will take duty in (y/n)’s quarters, show her who we are and then we will escort her to the prison cells where we will meet the Master, who will have been pretending to be you.” She concluded. “Questions?”

“Yeah, all of ‘em.” The Master said as he removed his feet from the desk and sat up more alert. “Why don’t I get to dress as a guard?”

“There are only two suits of armour.” 

“Okay,” the Master nodded as if to say ‘that’s reasonable’ “so why do I have to pretend to be him when I could disguise as a guard with you while he goes back to his cell to be himself?” 

“No offence but I think (y/n) would rather see him than you,” at that the Master immediately furrowed his brows, “and we don’t need a guard discovering his cell is empty and putting the whole palace on lockdown while we’re trying to get away. So the sooner you two exchange clothes and you get into… raggedy man’s cell, the better.” 

“I have to wear the rags too?!” The Master widened his eyes in panic.

“Yes! Chop-chop we haven’t got all day!” She rushed them, clapping her hands together as if she were talking to two small children before she shrugged her coat off and moved towards the armour display to put on her own disguise.

•

The two Doctors were walking through a long corridor, both dressed head to toe in silver armour, hoping they could find a way to the quarters where they were keeping (y/n) without getting lost. 

“Do you think you can trust the Master on his own?” The Doctor asked the blonde version of himself, they had just parted ways with the Master who had the most sour expression on his face as he wandered off in the direction of the cells in the Doctor’s prison rags.

“No,” the Doctor answered bluntly, “but would I trust him more in a suit of armour which allows him to conceal his identity as he roams freely around the palace or would I trust him more in a prison cell looking like the man who they believe is destined to be executed by the woman who they believe is a Goddess?” She brought her hands out in front of her and moved them up and down to mimic the action of weighing something.

“Fair enough.” the Doctor settled, although she could sense he was still anxious so she stopped walking and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, he’s not going to get very far in this palace while he has your face.” She reassured him.

Just then one of the maids entered the corridor carrying a tray full of various breakfast foods, she gave the two armoured Doctor’s a polite nod of acknowledgement as she walked past them, her heeled feet clicking against the floor.

“That could be for (y/n),” he guessed, “come on let’s follow her.” he encouraged his female self to keep up with him as he was already speed walking halfway down the corridor to catch up with the breakfast lady.

Sure enough the lady lead them straight to a heavily guarded quarter of the palace, they managed to easily follow the maid through as she continued to walk until she reached a door of which two guards where stood on either side.

As the guards were about to leave, assuming the disgusted Doctor’s where the next guards on duty, the maid came rushing out of the bedroom – no longer holding the breakfast tray, crying that ‘the Goddess’ had vanished. 

The two guards, along with the two Doctors, rushed into (y/n)‘s bedroom to find she was nowhere to be seen, while the Doctors stayed in the room the guards ran out to sound the alarm which caused a shrill ringing to blast through the palace.

•

You had resorted to sitting on the cold hard floor of the prison corridor with your back rested against the wall and your knees hugged to your chest for comfort, so many questions and worries were racing through your mind as you wondered what you were going to do now you were stranded and left behind by the one person you could rely on in this universe.

No guards had yet to arrive to take over the duty of the ones who had been miniaturised meaning you had been presented with the perfect opportunity to escape but you found yourself with no motivation to do so, figuring what was the point now you had nowhere to go. 

You startled when an alarm rang through the empty hallway, the harsh noise caused you to cover your ears as you quickly pushed yourself to your feet, from one end of the corridor you could hear the approaching sound of feet stomping against the hard floor as a group of guards neared the cells and you found your feet were already carrying you in the opposite direction.

You continued running through the empty halls of the palace once you had left the prisoners quarters, wondering how long it would be until you inevitably ran into someone but before that could happen a hard tug on your wrist sent you stumbling into their chest.

You looked up and saw it was the Doctor, you looked down at his attire and saw he was dressed in prison rags and didn’t have any shoes on, your immediate instinct was to wrap your arms around him and you almost did until you remembered what happened to the guards, you couldn’t be too careful. You stepped away from him putting him at arm’s length.

“(y/n)?” He questioned your behaviour with a frown.

“The Master is here.” You kept your voice low, just in case there were any guards nearby.

“I know, I saw him.” He nodded not elaborating any further as he grew concerned about you, “but how do you know? Did you see him? Did he hurt you.”

You quickly shook your head.

“I saw the miniaturised prison guards.” You were still keeping your distance, still unsure of whether you could trust him, he could tell but he didn’t try to draw attention to it.

“You were in the prisoners quarters?” He questioned you.

“I was trying to rescue you… the Doctor,” you were careful with how you worded your sentences. “The other Master was here too,”

“What?” He asked in disbelief.

“She landed her TARDIS in my room, she thought I was the Goddess too but then she found out I travelled with you. I begged for her to help me rescue you from prison and she took me to the cells. When we discovered you weren’t there she left me, she told me you left me too… I thought you had.” 

“I’d never do that.” He moved towards you but you stepped back putting your hand on his chest to stop him coming closer, you hated the pang of guilt you felt in your heart at the hurt he failed to hide on his face from your rejection.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, now shifting your gaze to the floor to avoid looking at his face, “but how do I know you’re not him?”

You were too busy distracted by the floor to notice his movements this time and before you could react he was brushing your hair out of your face, you initially flinched but then you couldn’t help but lean into the soft gesture. He continued to gently stroke your hair as he spoke.

“Remember when we first met?” He began, moving closer after you nodded, “remember what you did to me?” You nodded again, picturing the scene in your head as if it were yesterday. “You punched me in the face, you thought I was him then as well, I’m glad you’re not punching me this time.” He joked, by now he was standing right in front of you his fingers were brushing down the side of your face and stopped under your chin as he guided you to look at him. “I’ve been so worried, I missed you so much.” He confessed.

You couldn’t hold yourself back anymore, with his mention of your first encounter with one another you were convinced he was your Doctor and with that you were wrapping your arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a tight hug. “I’ve missed you so much too.”

You both silently held each other for a moment until you heard a group of guards approaching, he quickly took your hand in his and pulled you along with him until you reached a door.

“I’ve got a plan to get us out of here.” He told you as he ushered you through the door.

•

“The Master is behind this.” The Doctor who shared his resemblance concluded as he anxiously stepped back and forth, he had removed his helmet, as had the other Doctor since they were both still in (y/n)’s room and no one else was around to see them. “I knew we couldn’t trust him.”

“I did what I thought was best, we’re not even sure the Master is the one who is behind this.” The Doctor tried to reason but the other refused to listen giving her a pointed look.

“He looks like me, if she sees him she will think he is me, do you expect him not to take advantage of that?” The Doctor shared his worries, before he walked past his other self. “We need to find her fast.” 

The other Doctor was quick to follow him, taking his helmet in her hands, “don’t forget this, you need it to walk around here unnoticed.” 

The Doctor took the helmet from her without a word and fitted it back on his head. 

“If the Master is going to attempt to navigate a palace on high alert looking like their most wanted man with their believed Goddess in toe, then he won’t get very far.” The Doctor in the rainbows tried to keep a positive mindset, if only to reassure her alternate self.

“What if he has already jumped back to your universe, with (y/n)”

“He can’t.” The Doctor stopped him before he could grow anymore anxious about that scenario, “we can only get back through the Kasaavin, I broke their trust in the Master, they’re not letting him through without me.” 

“Come on, let’s not waste any more time.” She patted his arm and began to walk away in search for her companion, she heard the Doctor’s footsteps following behind her.

•

“Am I glad to be out of those rags!” The Master smiled, “does it suit me?” He turned to you striking a pose and you laughed from behind the helmet of your own suit of armour which matched his.

“You’ve never looked better.” You answered.

“You’re just saying that because the helmet hides my face.” He teasingly accused you.

“Yeah actually maybe you should keep that helmet after we get out of here and incorporate it into your everyday look.” You poked back. “Better than a fez.” You pushed, curious to see how far you could take the joke.

“A what?” The Master asked and you assumed he hadn’t heard you properly so you repeated yourself, speaking more clearly and all he responded with was a slight chuckle, which didn’t sound very genuine but you didn’t think much of it, deciding it was down to the stress after being held prisoner and now attempting an escape.

“This disguise is such a good idea, no one will suspect a thing.” You decided to change the subject.

“That’s the idea,” the Master spoke distractedly while fixing some things on his suit, once he was done he turned to you. “Ready to go?” 

“Ready, Doctor.” You confirmed with a mock salute.

You followed the Master as he swiftly moved through the palace, it was deserted apart from the occasional guard running past you both in panic, too busy frantically looking for you to be bothered by either yours or the Masters presence as long as you were both disguised.

When you reached the exit the Master attempted to push the door open, when it didn’t budge he shook the door more forcefully but it was locked shut. He grit his teeth, letting out a grunt as he pushed himself off the door and span around to face you.

“I suppose there’s no point in asking if you’ve got your sonic screwdriver?” You awkwardly smiled at the Master who was pursing his lips with both his hands rested on his hips.

Of course he still had his multi-functional TCE, having smuggled it into his prison rags when he swapped attire with the Doctor but he didn’t want you to see it and give his identity away.

“Turn around and keep a look out while I try to get this open.” He instructed you rather bluntly but you obliged without a fuss, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible instead of wasting time.

The Master was grateful for the fact the alarms were still blaring which made you unable to hear the low buzz of his TCE as he pointed it at the door before it clicked open on its own, he quickly hid away his TCE and then gave the door a slight push with his hands and it slowly swung open.

“(y/n)” he caught your attention, you turned around to see him stood by the door which was now wide open.

As you walked towards it you stopped just before him. “How?” You asked, your tone was complete bewilderment.

“Never mind that,” he lead you through the door, with a hand on your back, “we have a TARDIS to find.”

You had to offer the Master a lot of help with the directions of there the TARDIS had been left before you and the Doctor were taken, since you were under the impression he was the Doctor you assumed it was just a case of bad memory.

By the time you reached the familiar old police phone box you were both panting slightly, having walked a fair distance. You were so glad to see the ship you know as home now that you couldn’t help but lean your cheek against one of the doors with your eyes shut and a smile on your face. 

“Would you two like some alone time?” The Maser’s voice caused your eyes to snap open, he was smiling at you with his arms crossed over his chest, obviously the comments was teasing.

“Jealous?” You poked. 

“Can’t be too careful, one day you might steal her away from me.” 

“Don’t worry, I’m rather fond of her pilot.” You confessed with a smile, which the Master returned as he walked up to you and placed his hand on the door adjacent to your head and leaned in. Your back was against the door and your pulse was rising quickly, you both held eye contact as your faces moved closer and then without warning he used the hand he had leaned on the door to push it open sending you stumbling into the TARDIS, the Master was quick to follow you inside, giggling as he watched you stumble around before you grabbed onto the rail to balance yourself. 

You glared at him as he continued to giggle while he wandered around the console. “I’m glad you found that amusing.” You chastised.

Once you weren’t distracted by trying not to fall on your bottom you noticed the lighting in the TARDIS was dull and red, you had never seen her glow this colour before. You curiously looked around as the Master was flicking switches on the console, his brows furrowed with concentration.

“Doctor, is something wrong with the TARDIS?” You voiced your concern.

It took a few seconds for him to register your question before he looked up at you and then let his eyes wander around the console room once he noticed the lighting.

“S’fine,” he dismissed with a shrug, “probably just not happy about being left alone for a week.”

His excuse settled your concerns and you watched closely as he attempted to get the TARDIS into flight, it appeared he was having more trouble than usual. The Master was muttering incoherently under his breath and with one more harsh pull of the leaver the TARDIS was finally making the wheezing noises you had grown so used to hearing, only this time they were accompanied by some low groaning sounds you had never heard come from the TARDIS before, which caused your concerns to rise again.

“Why is she making that sound?” 

The Master sighed as he pushed himself off the console, it looked to you as though he was deep in thought before he looked up at you, you couldn’t put your finger on it but suddenly his demeanour was different, he seemed intimidating almost as he focused his eyes on you.

“She doesn’t like me.” He shrugged and glanced away from you.

“I don’t understand? Because you left her for a week?” You tried to make sense of it.

“No, she doesn’t like me.” He repeated, “evidently TARDIS’ are harder to fool than humans.” 

“What?” 

“Come on, you finally get to say to me what you said to the Doctor when you first met him.” The tone of his voice made your stomach drop, the Doctor never spoke like that and you quickly realised what he was referring to.

“First you pretend to be O, now the Doctor, having an identity crisis are you?” Your voice played back in your mind, you weren’t sure if it was from memory of if he put it there.

“How do you know about that?” You backed away, now fully realising the situation you were in.

“It wasn’t hard to get in there,” he brought his finger up to tap it against his own temple, “and have a snoop around at a few of your memories, after all I needed to find something to convince you I was the Doctor.”

“You’re in my head?” 

“It would’ve been so much fun to play with you for a little longer, your feelings make you so compliant,” his face beamed with delight as he watched you grow anxious at the realisation he was aware of your feelings towards the Doctor. “Don’t worry,” he moved towards you and you instantly stepped away, his eyes looked left and right as if pretending to check you were alone before he cupped the side of his mouth, “I can keep a secret.” He whispered to you, before sending you a wink.

“Why do you need me?” You decided to ask, knowing he wouldn’t have brought you along with him for the company.

“You helped me find the TARDIS.”

“If that was all you needed you would’ve left me outside.”

“All in good time,” he smirked. “As for right now, you can wait right here like a good little human while I go and get changed,” before you could react the Master was pointing his TCE at you and circular lights were surrounding you making you unable to move your body at all. “I hope this Doctor isn’t obsessed with rainbows.” You heard him mutter to himself as he wandered off down the corridor of the TARDIS in search of the Doctors wardrobe.


	5. Chapter Five

The Master came back with a spring in his step, skipping into the console room and twirling when he came to a stop, the tail of the new coat he was wearing flared out around him as he did.

“Just in time for our guest.” He flipped the pocket watch in his hand before slotting it back into his pocket. 

He approached the trap you were captured in, his eyes watched you curiously. “If I deactivate the paralysis field will you behave?”

“Yes.” You answered almost instantly, wanting to get out of this contraption as soon as possible.

“Yes, what?” 

You weren’t so fast to respond this time, you glared at him through the paralysis field as he expectantly waited for you to say what he wanted you to say but after a few moments he got bored and turned on his heel. 

“Yes, Master.” You finally said once he had his back turned to you, it was much easier to say it when his eyes weren’t practically burning into your sole. 

Without even glancing back at you he raised his TCE and the paralysis field dropped as did you along with it. You tried to push yourself up but your arms had no strength, your entire body felt like jelly and you began to panic, letting out sounds of distress.

“The more you attempt to move the longer it will take to wear off,” the Master explained, you could no longer see where he was, only able to hear his voice as you struggled to lift your head further than a few inches off the floor.

That’s when you heard the TARDIS doors open, you weren’t sure if he had left or if someone had entered until you heard her voice.

“What do you want?” 

You heard the northern accent you once loved so much but had now grown to hate, you made no attempts to yell for help, you knew it wasn’t the Doctor, it was the Master. Your heart filled with dread and anxiety at the realisation the two Masters were working together.

“Hello, nice to see you too, how have you been?” He responded, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Don’t waste my time.” She sounded annoyed, obviously she wasn’t one for fun and games or maybe she was only if they were on her terms. You imagined the two Masters would clash terribly and you were caught right in the middle. You realised the other Master hadn’t noticed your presence yet as you were hidden by the console, still lying on the floor with little strength to get up.

Finally you saw two pairs of feet in front of you, the ones wearing the dirty and worn shoes belonging to your original universes Master and the shiny black leather boots with the little heel belonging to your new universes Master.

As soon as they stopped in front of you the ‘new’ Master let out a scoff, you watched her feet as she turned on her heel and silently walked away, the Master was soon chasing after her. 

“What’s wrong?” You heard him ask her but it wasn’t out of concern instead it was offence.

“She’s not the Goddess, she’s just an insignificant little human.” Now you were the one who was offended.

“But don’t you see that doesn’t matter? For as long as they believe she’s the real deal you don’t need to waste your time trying to find the actual Goddess.” The Master persuaded her and you were lost, what did they want with the Goddess or you for that matter, if they thought you would willingly take part in any of their schemes they thought wrong, you were sure of that.

There was a pause in the conversation as the other Master pondered over what her other self had just told her. 

“You have a plan?” She finally asked.

“I always have a plan.” You could practically hear the sinister smirk in his voice and your stomach was in knots at the thought of what they had planned and how it involved you. 

•

The Doctors were beside themselves, they had searched everywhere around the palace and neither you or the Master were anywhere to be found. 

The dark haired Doctor was pacing with his hands in his hair while the other was rubbing her forehead with her other hand rested on her hip.

“They’ve obviously left.” She finally spoke, “we should be continuing our search outside.”

Before she could even finish her sentence the other one was running down the empty hallway yelling about the TARDIS and she was quick to chase after him.

By the time the Doctor had stopped running the other had to bend over, holding her side to try and ease the stitch she had got from running such a distance.

“No, no, no...” She heard the Doctor repeat and she straightened herself up, her jaw was slack as she was breathing heavily through her mouth as she watched him crouch down and bury his face in his hands.

Regaining her composure the Doctor quietly approached him and crouched by his side, she hesitated, hovering her arm over his shoulders for a moment, before she slowly brought it down to rest at the top of his back. She still wasn’t a big fan of physical contact as it seemed.

“The TARDIS is gone.” The Doctor mumbled into his hands.

“Are you positive this is where you left it?” The Doctor tried.

“Yes, I’m sure!” The Doctor snapped back at her slightly raising his voice, as he rose back to his feet causing her arm to fall from his shoulders and she looked down and chewed her lip to stop herself from snapping back, she knew arguing with one another would get neither of them anywhere. 

“I’m sorry,” he eventually added a few moments later, it was mumbled and said with his back facing her but she didn’t mind, after all an apology was an apology.

“We’ll find her,” she moved to stand again but didn’t approach him this time, realising neither of them were interested in giving or receiving comforting touches from one another right now. “I promise.”

“I know you mean well,” the Doctor slightly turned his head in her direction but the rest of his body still faced the other way, “but neither of us are certain of that, not enough to be making promises.” 

Silence fell upon them, neither of them sure what to say to the other, as they both came to terms with the current circumstances in their own ways. The silence was only broke when a repetitive buzzing was heard from the woman Doctor’s coat pocket, the other one didn’t pay attention as she patted her pockets in search of the device and then quickly pulled it out once she felt which one it was in.

“Oh you clever girl.” She smiled once she looked at the readings on her sonic screwdriver.

This finally caught the others attention, as he fully turned around and walked over to the Doctor.

“Is it (y/n)?” He asked before he reached her and stopped beside her to look over her shoulder at the sonics readings.

“The TARDIS,” she answered with a smile, “she has connected to my sonic to send me her coordinates.”

“If these are correct they’re just floating through empty space at the minute, how do you suggest we reach them without a TARDIS of our own?” 

“Have you always been this much of a pessimist?” She complained, he didn’t respond except for a sigh. “We’ll wait for the coordinates to change, hopefully the TARDIS will keep me updated, if they land back on this planet, we’ll be able to find them.”

“If they land back on this planet.” The Doctor repeated.

“Remind me to teach you how to be a bit more optimistic before I return back to my own universe.” The other Doctor pointed at him, completely serious, the other just silently stood before her with his hands in his pockets, having little faith in the Doctors strategy but hoping it would work out all the same, after all it was their only hope.

•

While the two Masters were discussing their plan you had regained control of the upper half of your body and you had managed to push yourself into a sitting position without either of them noticing. With a little more determination you managed to get some strength back in your legs, just enough so you could crawl the short distance to the console and use it as leverage to pull yourself up.

You took a good look at all the different buttons and controls on the console, you had never really paid attention to any of it before, both versions of the Doctor were usually too busy talking your ear off about how exciting the next planet was going to be, for you to ever really focus on the console or what they were doing. 

“Please help me out,” you quietly whispered to the TARDIS, hoping she could give you some sort of guidance, the Masters still had their backs turned to you, too distracted by their bickering to even notice you were at the console. Once you took your eyes off the Masters to glance back down to the console you noticed a series of buttons had lit up, you quietly sent a thank you to the ship before you began pressing them, uncertain of their functions or what would happen once you had pressed them but you trusted the TARDIS had given you the right directions. 

Unfortunately you only managed to get halfway through the sequence when a hand made its way into the back of your hair and forcefully tugged your head back, with your legs still wobbly she managed to pull you away from the console without much effort and you let out some slight whimpers at the harshness of her hold.

Once she was satisfied with the amount of distance she put between you and the console she roughly tugged on your hair again but this time towards the floor, causing your legs to buckle and your knees to hit the ground. That’s when the other Master stepped up in front of you, while the other grabbed both of your wrists and tightly restrained them behind your back.

“Did you really think you could escape right from under our noses?” The Master crouched in front of you, so he was at your eye level. You flinched when you felt a hand rest on your shoulder as the Master who shared the same face as your old Doctor moved from behind you to lean at your side, one leg crossed over the other.

“She’s a human, they aren’t renowned in the galaxy for their intelligence, I’m shocked she didn’t throw herself out of the TARDIS doors and into the vacuum of space in an attempt to escape.” The other Master debated with her other self. 

“It wouldn’t have been her first time.” He smiled up to the Master with a chuckle and a cheeky glimmer in his eyes when you glared at him for prying into and sharing your memories.

“If you’re done talking about me as if I’m not here, I’d like to know what it is you plan to use me for because I can assure you both right now, you’re not getting anything from me.” You boldly spoke to them, you weren’t sure where this bravado stemmed from but the part of you inside that was quivering with fear was grateful for it.

The Master took a deep breath in through his nose and raised his chin at your defiance before rising back to both feet, your eyes followed him and you watched as he held eye contact with the Master beside you in a silent exchange before they both burst into hysterical laughter.

“Her defiance will make it all the more satisfying when she is pathetically following every single one of our orders.” The light haired Master mused, moving her hand from your shoulder to stroke it through your hair in faux affection.

“I won’t!” You hissed at her, frustrated they were still talking about you rather than to you.

At that her gentle touch quickly turned harsh as she tugged your head back and bent down so her face was inches from yours. “Would you continue to be so disobedient if I told you the fate of your dear Doctors rests on your shoulders?”

Your eyes widened slightly while every word of resistance died in your throat and you gulped down the lump it left behind.

“Such a loyal little pet.” She smiled triumphantly at your sudden lack of rebellion before she straightened back to her full height and unclenched her fist from out of your hair. “But your loyalty will lie with us now.”

“I’ll never be loyal to you!” You scorned at the both of them as they only appeared to be mildly amused by your protest.

“I don’t recall telling you that you had a choice, did I do that?” She turned to the other Master for confirmation, you hadn’t noticed he had now moved to the console and was preparing the TARDIS for travel, you could tell the ship was being stubborn and refused to run smoothly for him when he kept hitting the controls and letting out sounds of frustration. He paused at the sound of the other Master’s voice and raised his head, his brows were knitted together and he had a stressful frown on his face but he grunted out a blunt ‘no’ before he returned to beating the console.

Eventually the TARDIS began wheezing and the Master was stepping back from the console breathing heavily and with his hair even more dishevelled than it was before muttering about how much he hated the ship and how he should send it crashing straight into a supernova.

“Don’t listen to him.” You quietly mumbled to the ship, low enough that your voice couldn’t be heard by either Master over the sound of it landing. Once it was quiet again the Master moved behind you and she freed your wrists from the restraints and you followed her movements as she approached the other Master and brought each of his wrists behind his back to restrain him and your eyebrows pulled together in confusion. The Master didn’t even put up a fight as she bound his wrists, he just watched you with a smirk on his face, entertained by your lack of understanding of what was going on.

“What are you doing?” You decided to asked, rising to your feet now that you had enough strength back in your legs.

“This part of the plan doesn’t concern you.” The Master who had restrained the other told you, her hands moved into the pockets of her coat as she walked out from behind her other self and began taking steps towards you, “all you need to do is sleep” and before you could register what she had said her hand was pulled from her coat pocket and she was pointing a device in your direction as your eyes grew heavy, you expected to harshly hit the floor when you felt yourself begin to fall but you were presently surprised when you felt a pair of arms catch you before you fell completely unconscious.

•

The Doctor was lying across a two seater couch in a little cottage, with his feet perched over the back of it while he was reading a book. His facial hair had grown out a bit more and appeared less groomed, he was just wearing his shirt which was untucked from his trousers and he had no shoes on his socked feet. 

The sonic screwdriver which belonged to the other Doctor rested on the coffee table beside him, he had never let it out of his sight since his other self discovered it was reading the TARDIS’ coordinates, however that had been a year ago and they had yet to change.

Considering they were stranded without a TARDIS both the Doctors settled down on the planet, in the hope that they wouldn’t have to wait long for the coordinates to change, in the meantime the Doctor had been attempting to build either a ship or a device which would allow them to travel through space and time, however parts were limited so she had to get creative, there had been many failed attempts but she never gave up, for the other Doctor building wasn’t his strong suit, in the beginning he had tried to help the Doctor with her projects but in the end he always ended up somehow only causing damage, so it didn’t take long for the Doctor to ban him from offering her any help.

So whilst the Doctor was reading sounds of construction could be heard from the garage where the other Doctor was working however soon those sounds were accompanied by the low buzz of the sonic, a sound which the Doctor was losing more hope of ever hearing again with each passing day. It took him a few moments to realise that the sound wasn’t another one of the noises coming from the garage and that is when he shot up from the couch, the book went flying across the room and he tumbled to his knees in front of the coffee table to bring is face close to the sonic to read the coordinates which had finally changed for the first time in a year.

“Doctor!” He yelled as loud as his voice would allow as he grabbed hold of the device and scrambled to his feet and began to run towards the garage, repeatedly yelling for the Doctor all the way there.

When he burst through the garage door the Doctor was hunched over wearing a welding mask as sparks were flying around in front of her but he didn’t pay them any attention as he continued to run towards her still yelling her name.

“Ow!” He cried when he got close enough for the sparks to hit him so he quickly reached out and shook one of her shoulders to finally get her attention.

She immediately stopped what she was doing and lifted her mask to look at him disapprovingly, “what have I told you about health-“ but before she could even finish her sentence the Doctor was shoving the sonic in her face to show her the new coordinates.

“The Palace,” he shouted even though there was no longer any need for it, “these are the coordinates for the palace, they finally changed, the TARDIS is at the palace, lets go!” He was out of breath and moving frantically and he grabbed the Doctors hand and began to run back through the cottage and towards the front door with the Doctor stumbling behind him trying to keep up and take in everything he just yelled at her.

“Wait, slow down!” She stopped him just before he reached the door, “you haven’t been seen in a year now you want to go running through the streets at the exact time (y/n) has potentially returned?”

“Do you expect me to stay here a moment longer now I know there’s a chance (y/n) is out there?” He gestured towards the door as he defied the Doctor.

“I expect you not to be a fool and think rationally!” She tried to reason, “what good would you be to (y/n) if you’re thrown straight back into prison?”

This made him finally realise how reckless he was being, acting on impulse rather than taking time to think rationally and come up with the best strategy.

“You’re right,” he sighed, stepping back away from the door and running a hand through his unkempt hair. 

The Doctor paused for a moment, having a thought, she reached for the welding mask which was still secured on top of her head and took it off to put it on the other Doctor. Once it was perched on his head, the guard was still lifted, she pushed it down to cover his face.

“That should do.” She decided.

“Are you sure?” He sounded sceptical, his voice coming out muffled through the mask. “Not many people walk around in welding masks.”

“It’s the best I can do if you want to get out of here as soon as possible.” She shrugged and the Doctor sighed in agreement, realising neither of them wanted to waste time on an elaborate disguise when time could be at the essence. With that they both made a swift exit out the front door and headed towards the palace on foot.

•

When you stirred awake you had to blink your eyes several times for them to adjust from the bright space you were in, a sharp contrast to the last thing you remember which was being surrounded by the dull red lighting inside the Doctors TARDIS. 

You felt you were lying in a soft and comfortable bed, your head sunk into a fluffy pillow. Once your eyes had adjusted to the light the first thing you saw was the high ceiling and the painting you had grown so familiar with over the past week, if that didn’t make your stomach turn the next thing you saw certainly did. As your eyes travelled further around the room of the palace they eventually landed on the Masters face, who was casually lounging beside you, it seemed she had been watching over you while you slept as she had her head propped up on her elbow and she was rather close.

“Hello, love.” She smiled at you blissfully as soon as your eyes met, if you hadn’t known any better you would’ve sworn she was your old Doctor because regardless of the fact she shared her face, she reminded you nothing of her, with her usually cold hard stare and empty eyes but right now with the way she smiled at you in a way which you could’ve been fooled into believing was almost genuine fondness, you couldn’t help but allow yourself to indulge for just a moment before reality set in and you scrambled out of the bed to put as much distance between you and her as you could.

“Why am I back here? How are you in my room?” You looked at her to make sense of it all.

“Calm down, dear.” She gently told you as she climbed from out of the bed, but you didn’t miss the threatening tone she masked with the use of the endearing term.  
You moved back further as she started creeping towards you like an animal stalking it’s prey.

“If I yell for help the guards will come running in immediately and take you to the cells.” You threatened once your back hit the wall but she seemed unfazed, amused even by your attempt at intimidation.

“Oh I don’t think they will, see a lot has happened while you’ve been asleep.” Her voice was low as she caged you in against the wall. “I’m their hero, not only have I returned their precious Goddess, I saved her from the hands of evil and brought him to them as well, and you know what?” She whispered as she brought her hand up to absentmindedly trace your collarbones with a feather like touch.

“What?”

“The hero always gets the girl.” A broad smile grew on her face as her eyes met yours, “and this girl happens to be the believed Goddess of this entire universe”  
“And the other Master?” You asked, having put two and two together and gathered that he was the ‘evil’ she mentioned, once you recalled her restraining his wrists just before you passed out. You didn’t understand why he would allow himself to be captured while she got all the glory and his fate was to be executed by you.

“Will take great delight in killing you.” A cold shiver ran straight through your spine and your heart began to beat so hard you feared it was about to burst straight through your rib cage. 

“See this,” she pointed to the painting on the ceiling, “isn’t an execution like they’ve made you believe. It’s a duel and once the Master wins, which he will considering a weak little human such as yourself is no match against a Time Lord, he will take your place and together he and I will control... everything.”


	6. Chapter Six

A couple of maids had come to help dress you up in your armour and provide you with a sword, when you had first held it you weren’t prepared for the weight of it and it almost slipped from your hand, the Master who had been lounging on your bed at the time had to hold her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter and hide her delight at seeing how incompetent you were with the weapon, taking control of this universe would be so easy she had thought to herself.

You had never been in any sort of sword fight before, you were way out of your depth and you felt your nerves swarming in your chest like a mob of provoked bees as you sat at the head of a large table covered in a banquet or rather, your last meal, however your stomach was in far too many knots to even consider taking a single bite of any of it.

The Master was sat at your side, being overly affectionate, just for the sake of your audience of course and maybe also to see what kind of reactions she could get out of you. She gently tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear and pouted at you, feigning concern. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat anything, love? You’ll need all the strength you can get for the fight.” 

You just glared ahead at everyone else at the table, refusing to give her any attention or play along with her act, knowing the less you reacted the more it would wind her up.

All the other guests were chatting amongst themselves and celebrating, they had an unshakeable faith that you were going to win the battle, you couldn’t help but feel guilty about the fact that you’ll likely end up letting them all down and dooming them to an existence where the Masters will become Gods of their entire universe. 

Your mind had wandered to the thought of the Doctor, after you had learned the Masters jumped a year ahead in the TARDIS you had come to terms with the fact that he had definitely given up on the idea of your return and moved on to other things, even without his TARDIS you had no doubt he found other ways to leave this planet for more adventures in space and time, you knew he was never one for staying in one place for too long, but you would be lying if you said part of you didn’t hope he would come running in at the last minute to save the day... and you.

You were dragged from your thoughts when the sound of a bell ringing filled the room and the chatter of the guests died down as a guard announced it was time for the duel, you took in a deep breath through your nose and exhaled through your mouth to try and maintain composure and not become a complete nervous wreck, you knew your chances of winning this fight were near to, if not completely, impossible however you had enough sense to realise that letting your nerves get the better of you only decreased your chances of winning even further.

Everyone at the table remained seated, all their heads were turned in your direction as they waited for you to stand, you could see the Master smirking at you from the corner of your eye. 

After closing your eyes and taking another deep breath you pushed yourself from your chair, or what was more like a thrown, your armour rattled as you moved and once you were stood everyone else at the table followed.

You were guided through the hallways of the palace, the Master never left your side and at one point even attempted to hold your hand but you pulled yours away and she made no further attempts after that. 

You entered a large ballroom, the room had an extravagant dome roof made of glass with which allowed you to see the sky, today it was covered in dark clouds as heavy rain pattered against the glass.

The audience dispersed themselves to each side of the room while the Master stayed at your side.

Across the other side of the room, were another set of double doors directly opposite the ones you had just entered through. Your heart hammered hard against the wall of your chest as they opened to reveal two guards standing either side of the Master, who was now dressed in rags similar to the ones he wore when you met him in the hallway and he convinced you he was the Doctor, you noticed they hadn’t provided him with any armour, at least that gave you one advantage. 

As he entered the room the audience immediately became hostile and began to heckle and boo at him, some even threw left overs of the banquet in his direction, which he quickly dodged and glared at them, no doubt committing their faces to memory so he could deal with them once all this was over. 

His wrist were shackled behind his back but the guards released them once the door he entered through had been locked and then they provided him with a sword of his own. He casually swung it about and twirled it in his hand to get a feel for it, all while his eyes never left yours with a sinister grin, to your dismay with the way he handled his weapon it was obvious that he was somewhat skilled in sword fighting.

The Master beside you gave you a soft kiss on your jaw, just at the point where it met your neck, which you didn’t acknowledge until she moved her lips to your ear, “if we didn’t have to kill you, I might have considered keeping you as a pet.” She whispered, this caused you to turn your head and glare at her as she backed away with a dark giggle, blowing you another kiss while on her way to join the rest of the audience in a designated area just for her.

Soon the crowd grew quiet and then it was as if it were just the two of you, you pulled your sword out from where it was hung on your waist and tried to hold it as though you at least had an idea what you were doing. You walked towards each other and stopped once you were around a metre apart and as soon as the bell rang the Master was charging at you, acting purely on survival instincts and adrenaline you ran out of his way, you quickly spun on your heel to watch as he slid to a stop and turned to you, twirling his sword as you held yours up defensively in front of you. 

This time instead of charging at you he stalked towards you slowly and you backed away in the opposite direction which caused the audience to begin to shout words of encouragement at you, your eyes took a fleeting glance towards the Master sat in the audience to find she was watching quietly with a stoic expression while everyone else around her cheered you on. 

You didn’t allow your eyes to stay too long off the other Master though, knowing you had to be vigilant and alert. 

He had managed to back you about halfway across the room once you realised he would soon have you cornered against a wall if you didn’t act fast, with some courage you decided to take a chance and strode towards him with a swing of your sword, he managed to successfully block it with his own before he attempted to take a swing towards you and you jumped back with a yelp causing the tip of his sword to miss you by mere millimetres and he laughed, mocking you for the sound you made.

This caused a reaction of anger to coarse through your veins and you grit your teeth as you used all your strength to take another hit at him, catching him off guard, you managed to injure his side, the tip of your sword caught him and left a gash along his ribs. This startled him as he looked from his injury to you with wide eyes and you used the fact he was off guard to your advantage, coming for him again but he reacted more quickly this time to block you. He thrust his sword towards you, instead of attempting to block it, you dodged it again while raising your weapon and bringing it down towards his head but he brought his up at the exact same time causing both your swords to clash between you. The strength behind his attack sent you spinning on the spot, as you span you extended your sword and brought it crashing towards his side but he managed to block it just before it made impact by whacking his own sword against your arm, had it not been for the armour you would’ve been left with a rather deep cut. 

This gave you some more confidence, realising your armour was impenetrable you took another step closer him this time thrusting your sword towards his chest and he quickly leaped back before circling around you so you were now on the opposite sides of the room. 

The spectators were cheering you on even more now they saw you gained some confidence and it strengthened your courage as you took several hits at him, he managed to block each one but you were moving closer to him each time which caused him to be backed halfway across the room. Realising he was being cornered he pushed against one of your swings, which caused your wrist to twist painfully and you lost your grip on your sword, sending it crashing to the floor with a loud clatter. 

Acting fast the Master circled you to change your positions, putting you closer to the wall and he took several swings at you causing you to back away to dodge them, until you were cornered just as he wanted.

The audience were getting more hostile towards him, as he cockily sauntered over to you with a smug smirk on his face.

“I’ve got you now.” He chuckled darkly, his dark eyes practically pinned you against the wall as they stared at you from under his thick brows.

He brought his weapon up to your exposed neck and you reached for his wrist and pushed against it with all your strength, you glared at each other with bared teeth, wondering who was going to weaken first when a loud shattering of glass echoed through the ballroom followed by a gasp from the crowd.

The Master retracted his sword from your neck and turned around to see what was going on, you peered over his shoulder and saw a welding mask on the floor with shards of glass gathered around it from the roof it had came crashing through, a puddle began to form as the rain now poured into the room.

At the same time both you and the Master looked up to see the Doctor balancing just at the edge of the hole left behind by the welding mask.

“Oh my god.” You gasped under your breath and the Master let out a growl of rage.

While the Master was distracted, you reached for your sword which was still on the floor where you dropped it, before you ran around him to stop just underneath where the Doctor was balanced, rain hit against your face as you looked up at him.

“Doctor, what on earth are you doing up there?!” You shouted.

Before he could reply the sound of the sonic was heard from the door behind the Master and your head turned just as the doors burst open to reveal your old Doctor running into the room, her long coat waved out behind her like a cape and you noticed her hair, which was damp from the rain, was longer now and pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face.

She slid to a halt on her wet boots when the Master blocked her path, “oh no you don’t.” He growled through his teeth as he raised his sword so the point stopped just barely under her chin.

Before you could even think about what you were doing, you ran up behind the Master and wrapped one arm tightly around his chest, pulling his back into your front as you brought your sword up to his throat, you thought back to the time this was the other way around and couldn’t help the way you felt pleased with yourself for turning the tables on him. 

The Doctor looked surprised by your actions and you only wish you could have seen the Masters face.

As your back was turned to her, you hadn’t noticed the other Master had left her seat until you felt her place her own version of the TCE at the back of your neck. 

“Now is not the time to be acting brave.” She hissed into your ear.

Now all four of you were pointing your weapons at one another, in a sort of lethal conga line with the Doctor at the front, each one of you attempting to protect the life of the person in front of the one you were threatening. 

You all stayed that way for a moment, none of you wanting to set off the chain reaction but none of you wanted to surrender either until a thud was heard followed by a groan of pain.

Reluctantly each of you retracted your weapons to turn your heads over your shoulders in search of the source of the noise, except for the Doctor who wasn’t holding any weapon and was already facing in that direction. What you saw was the other Doctor on his hands and knees, pushing himself up off of the floor and you noticed he had tiny cuts in his face from the shattered glass.

You slipped past the Master while her eyes weren’t on you and rushed to the Doctors side to help him to his feet by bringing his arm over your shoulder and holding him securely with your arm around his waist.

Once he had made it to both feet you finally took in his appearance which had drastically changed since the last time you saw him, for you that was still only a week ago even though it felt like years had passed. Back then his hair was neatly styled in a quiff and his face was clean shaven and he wore a smart three piece suit but now his unruly wet hair fell over his forehead, his facial hair was just past the point where you could stop calling it stubble and start calling it a beard and he was without a waist coat or suit jacket, his shirt was wet and creased, the back of it clung to his skin but you really didn’t care for how he looked you were just relieved to finally see him again but also mad at him for being so reckless with himself. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, throwing yourself off a roof?” You chastised him once you had him balanced on both feet.

“Had to sneak in without anyone seeing my face.” He shrugged as if it were obvious.

“You could’ve killed yourself!” You shoved him in the shoulder for not taking it seriously but you were careful not to be too rough, you didn’t want to cause him any more pain even though you were frustrated at him for not being more careful.

“I’ve survived higher falls than that.” He brushed off, “in any case, it seems I dropped in at exactly the right moment, what’s all this?” He gestured to your sword and then the Master before glancing around the room.

At this point the Master who you were duelling with stepped forward, “a battle for power over this entire universe and I was just about to claim my victory, so if don’t mind I’d like to finish what I started.” He lifted his sword as he approached you.

“Well... actually I do mind-“ The Doctor lifted his finger and moved to put himself between you and the Master.

“Of course,” the Master scoffed with a roll of his eyes and a click of his tongue, “how predictable, but we‘ll have no problem destroying the both of you if needs be.” He referred to both himself and his other self, who was already on her way over with her TCE tightly gripped in her fist but before she could even reach the three of you, your old Doctor was skipping around her with both her hands up in a signal for her to stop.

“I hate to interrupt but,” she pointed, keeping a vigilant eye on both Masters as she walked backwards, “if you want to destroy them, you have to get through me...” she fished her sonic out from her pocket before pressing it, summoning a crowd of Kasaavin who gathered behind her and in front of you and the Doctor. “and these guys.” She finished with a triumphant grin when the Master’s smile dropped.

By now the majority of the crowd were gasping and screaming as they rushed to make their way out of the ballroom, while they pushed themselves through the two double doors on either side of the room some armed guards were trying to cut through the panicked mob.

Both Masters were back to back, one keeping his eye on the Doctor and the Kasaavin while the other raised her weapon to the guards as they began to surround her.

“I’ve been meaning to add some new dolls to my collection.” You heard her threaten them in her playfully sinister tone.

There was so much going on at once you barely knew what to do but you felt as though you should do something instead of just stand there and watch it all, but before you could act you felt a hand grab a hold of yours and you looked down at your intertwined hands and then up to the Doctor who gave you a look you couldn’t quite decipher before he was dashing for the door behind you both and pulling you along with him.

He had lead you into the hallway when he stopped running but still continued to walk with swift steps.

“Where did they land the TARDIS?” He questioned you and you tried to dig your heels into the floor to slow him down until you gave his hand a harsh tug and he finally stopped and turned to look at you, his brows were pushed together with worry.

“We can’t run, the Doctor needs our help!” You used your sword to point in the direction of the room the Doctor was leading you both away from.

“And I need you safe!” He paused and broke eye contact to look to the floor, “until the Doctor can take you back to your old universe.” 

“That’s why she is here?” You tilted you head, you realise it should have been obvious to you but the thought hadn’t yet crossed your mind as returning to your original universe was no longer high on your list of priorities.

“Why else would she be here?” The Doctor looked confused at your lack of realisation, since he assumed you would have been eager to return home as soon as you saw her.

“I thought the Master came here and she followed him... to take him back?” You explained to him what you genuinely believed was her reason for being here.

“She came here with the Master, he was helping her look for you, I guess it was her way of holding him responsible for his actions.” He shrugged. 

You opened your mouth to speak but hesitated as you glanced at him, you wanted to tell him that you would like to stay in his universe rather than return home but you weren’t sure whether he would even want you to stick around, what if he was keeping you all this time just because he felt obliged and he was waiting for the day your old Doctor would show up to take you back home. 

You bit your lip to hold back from saying what you actually wanted to say and gave him the directions to the TARDIS. When you both entered, her harsh red lighting immediately faded into a calmer blue and buzzes and bleeps of what could only be described as delight were heard throughout the console room.

“I’ve missed you too.” He slightly lifted the corners of his lips into a soft smile, as he patted one of the pillars. “Look after (y/n) until I return, won’t you?” He spoke into the room as he walked back towards the double doors, the TARDIS gave him a few beeps in agreement and when he finally reached the door he looked at you but once your eyes met his he soon blinked to the floor to divert his gaze and quickly exited without a goodbye.

He was acting so different toward you and you weren’t sure why. During your time with him you had discovered he was someone who thrived on physical contact, once you had grown comfortable around each other hugs and other friendly affectionate touches had became frequent, you had spent time imagining the hug you would share with him once you were reunited yet here you were and he could barely even look at you as hug seemed so far out of reach. 

Questions and doubts began to race through your mind, was everything before just a facade and now your old Doctor had come to collect you he no longer felt the need to keep up the act anymore? You hated the way your mind would overthink and over-analyse sometimes, staying alone in the TARDIS while you waiting for your Doctors return was out of the question, it would only encourage more of these doubts plus you had to help your Doctors fight the Masters. 

So you made a dash for the doors, ignoring the disapproving noises the TARDIS made at your actions. Your fingers wrapped around the door handle and tugged for it to open but it wouldn’t budge, you tried again rattling the door but it had clearly been locked shut, either by the Doctor or the TARDIS was taking his orders very seriously.

You groaned with frustration but you refused to let it stop you, you had other plans. 

After sliding your sword back into it’s sheath which hung from your waist, you marched toward the console and decided to take a risk. You knew very little about most of its functions however one thing you were certain of was that whenever the Doctor pulled the leaver you had currently wrapped your hand around, the TARDIS took into flight and you know with the Doctors orders she wouldn’t take you far, she might even take you to him, that’s what you were aiming for. So without giving yourself too much time to think it over you tightly held your eyes shut and gave the leaver a tug, you held your breath when you heard the wheezing and you still held your eyes closed until it finally stopped. 

“Miss me already?” You jumped at her voice, your eyes snapped open and you turned your head to find the Master wearing a smirk on her face which was barely inches from yours. You hastily moved to put some distance between yourself and her and she laughed, amused by your frightened behaviour, you pulled your brows together and reached for your sword.

“How did you get in here? The door is locked.” You lifted your sword out it’s sheath and held it directly in front of you to make sure she kept her distance.

“It is?” She looked in the direction of the doors, “doesn’t that make things a lot more interesting.” You didn’t miss the way her eyes lit up with excitement.

“How did you get in here?” You repeated.

“I believe you materialised the TARDIS around me... not bad for a human.” The backhanded compliment was accompanied with a tilt of her head as her eyes trailed up from your feet to the top of your head to get a proper look at you.

“Uh oh, you messed up.” You accused the TARDIS underneath your breath and she let out bleeps of offence.

You decided making a dash for the door was your best option supposing that if the TARDIS had locked the door she would unlock it once she realised you were trapped inside with the Master whereas if the Doctor locked it hopefully he would notice that the TARDIS had materialised around the Master and you were both stuck inside and he would be unlocking the door himself right about now.

The Master was quick on your heel and her arms made their way around your waist just before you managed reach the door, although she was behind you, you frantically waved your sword thrashing it about trying to hit at least one part of her but she removed one of her arms from your waist to grab hold of your wrist to forcibly still your movements before she dug her perfect manicured nails into your skin, almost drawing blood before you finally surrendered your weapon, allowing it to drop from your hand.

“Pets shouldn’t play with toys they don’t know how to use... while we’re alone maybe I should use you to demonstrate how to properly handle it?” She proposed while you still struggled, you refused to let her get a hold of the sword so thinking fast you lifted your leg to kick it back into her shin with as much force as you could muster, her hand immediately fell from your waist as she crouched in pain, the fact you were wearing metal armour only made it worse.

After you picked up your sword once again you were about to make a quick sprint for the doors but they started to move and become distorted as if they were bendable, you took a step back until a shape began to form as if something was pushing through the surface, that’s when you realised it was the Kasaavin. 

Knowing you had to be careful not touch them you stepped to the side to allow them space to enter the TARDIS and you watched carefully as you side stepped around the Master who was now moving to straighten herself up, her short hair had fallen over the front of her face from her crouching over and you had just a second when you knew she had her guard down just enough to attack.

Taking feather light steps you creeped up behind her, just while she was distracted enough with fixing her hair as she kept a curious eye on the luminous creature before you pounced forwards with your arms stretched outward, you pushed all your weight into her back and she was sent stumbling straight into the Kasaavin. Rays of light shone from the creature as it only grew even brighter when her body fell into it and a low grumbling echoed through the empty control room, the only other sound that could be heard was your heavy breathing.

You stood looking where she once was, with wide eyes and your jaw slack, your chest heaved up and down from the adrenaline and your hands were shaking at your sides.

“(Y/N!)” You we’re dragged out of your trance by her voice and your defensively raised your sword to find it was only your old Doctor and you relaxed with a sigh but after noticing the state of the Kasaavin the Doctor only seemed to grow more panicked as she hurried into the TARDIS and circled the creature who appeared to be growing more unstable with each passing second.

“Oh no, no, that is bad.” She gasped to herself, “(y/n) come on, we haven’t much time, we must leave right now!” She urged you with an outstretched hand and she waited for you to take it but you hesitated.

“Now? But... but I haven’t said goodbye to the Doctor yet.” You protested.

“No time,” she shook her head “the Kasaavin is unstable, if we don’t leave right now we might be stuck here forever!” She warned you yet you still hesitated to take her hand.

She called your name once more, with urgency and you knew you had to make your decision fast.

“I... I want to stay.” You mumbled, looking down because you didn’t want to see her face.

“What?” 

“I want to stay here... with the other Doctor.” You spoke more clearly this time, finally committing to your decision.

“Oh...” Was her only response as she dropped her hand back to her side. “Are you sure?” She quickly added after a beat of silence.

“I’m sure.” You nodded with a small smile, finally bringing your eyes back up to look at her and you found she was frowning as she came to terms with your decision.

“Okay...” She awkwardly glanced around and you dropped you sword and rushed to removed the top half of your armour, letting it hit the floor with a clatter which echoed through the room, before you stepped towards her and wrapped your arms around her, at first she was rigid and her arms still hung unmoving at her sides but eventually she brought them up to at first lightly pat your back before she gave in completely and reciprocated the gesture, even going as far as to giving you a squeeze.

“I don’t think I like goodbyes.” She thought out loud, her voice spoke directly into your ear.

“Me neither.” You softly agreed.

You were both reminded of the urgency of the situation when the light of the Kasaavin started to flicker and the hums it emitted began to grow more faint, the Doctor pulled from the hug and looked at you apologetically.

“It won’t hold much longer.” She explained as she took a backwards step towards it, “live a good life.” She told you, that’s when you felt tears begin to build behind your eyes.

She brought her hand up to her lips to kiss her fingertips before she extended her hand towards you one final time before she turned around and disappeared into the light. You backed away from the Kasaavin as it violently shook before it too disappeared completely and the TARDIS became dull again just as you felt, you hoped you had made the right decision.

“(Y/N)! Doctor!” The Doctor shouted stumbling into his TARDIS, he now had a sword of his own and was holding it up defensively as his eyes scanned the room to find you were the only one in it and he slowly brought his weapon down to hang at his side as he pulled his brows together and looked at you for answers.

“Where is the Doctor? The Master?” He worried, thinking something must have gone wrong, especially when he noticed the tears in your eyes, he rushed towards you and took your face in his hands. “What did she do?” 

“Nothing, nothing!” You quickly assured him as you brought your empty hand up to rest on the back of his own. “I pushed the Master through the Kasaavin, she is in my old universe now, with the Doctor.” 

You watched his eyes grow bigger, if that was even possible, “you got left behind?” He worried.

You shook your head as much as you could while he was holding your face. “No, I wanted to stay.”

You watched his honey coloured eyes bounce around your face as his lips moved to open and close, you could practically see all the things he wanted to say whirling around in his head before he finally settled on “with me?”

“With you.” 

“But... your life, your home, your universe?” He struggled to understand.

“I never felt like I belonged anywhere as much as I’ve felt it with you these past few months,” you confessed, “I want this life, this is my home, my universe.” 

You watched closely as the worry faded from his face and was replaced with a growing smile.

“What?” You asked curiously.

“I’m... I’m glad,” he nervously admitted, “it was selfish of me but when the Doctor showed up to take you back... I know should have been pleased for you but... I wasn’t, I didn’t want to let you go but I knew I couldn’t keep you, this wasn’t were you belonged.”

“But it is now.” You assured him.

“With me.” He repeated once again, with the widest smile you had ever seen him wear.

“With you.” You echoed with a smile of your own before you moved your hand from his to slide your arm around the back of his neck, you ran the tips of your fingers over the hair which was longer there since it had been left uncut for a while. Your eyes travelled across his face from his own and down to his lips, his smile had now faded at the change of atmosphere in the room and you took a fleeting glance back up to his eyes to find they were now trained on your own lips before you slowly leaned in and used your arm at the back of his neck to gently pull him towards you. 

When your lips met, his hand that was caressing your cheek slowly began to slide down, moving side of your neck before it continued it’s journey over the front of your shoulder and down your side before gaining purchase on your waist, he took a firm grip and you felt his fingertips dig into you. He tilted his head to the side to deepen the kiss and his beard tickled against the skin surrounding your mouth and he used his grip on your waist to pull you even closer so your chests were flush against each other. 

Neither of you pulled back until you felt your lungs begin to burn, urging you to fill them with air, so begrudgingly you broke the kiss and your chest pushed even further into his own as it raised once it was filled with much needed oxygen. He brought his forehead to yours and you shared shy smiles, neither of you quite believing what just happened but the moment was short lived when you gasped at a thought that had just entered your mind.

“The Master!” You worried.

“He vanished when a group of guards surrounded him, he must have teleported.” He explained to you. “I have no doubt it won’t be long until our paths cross again... it will be strange getting used to a Master who is identical to me.”

“We will have to be extra careful.” You told him and he nodded in agreement.

“But for now let’s finally get ourselves off this planet before either of us are captured again.” He moved around you to approach the console but not before he left a kiss on forehead, if you thought this Doctor was affectionate before you were sure it was only going to increase tenfold from this day forward. He began setting up the TARDIS for flight but he paused for a moment to look over to you. “This is your universe to explore now, where would you like to go first?”

You had definitely made the right decision.


End file.
